Isdore Guvamombe Tourism Matrix
The Tourism and Hospitality Industry,  which contributes approximately 10 percent to the country’s gross domestic product and is also a major employer, especially for the communities around resort and historical areas, like almost all sectors of the economy is hamstrung by capital constraints.

Some unappealing tourism products that the country parades in some areas and the lack of meaningful new projects in the sector in the past 10 years clearly shows that the sector needs to be recapitalised.

In the next five years, the industry will require between $1 billion and $1,5 billion to fully recapitalise, according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.

But judging by our economic situation, that kind of money might remain holed up in a hovel of dreams.

The will is certainly there but the money might never be there, especially if we think of raising it through local banks. The local banks seem to have a negative attitude towards the tourism industry.

A recent survey by the ZimTravel magazine shows that the tourism and hospitality industry is not among the top 10 financing priorities of local banks.

A farmer stands a better chance of accessing funds from our banks than a tourism and hospitality industry company! Now where does this put the tourism industry, which is the face of the country and the main image builder?

The tourism and hospitality industry must work on the perception and subsequent attitude of the banks.

This fiscal year, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi successfully negotiated with treasury the extension, by a year, of Statutory Instruments 124 and 199 which had expired with the hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, general assembly in August last year.

The Statutory Instruments enable the industry to import capital goods duty free as a means of assisting to re-tool, re-kit and rebrand facilities in the industry.

But without the necessary finances, the statutory instruments will expire by year end, without the industry doing anything. The statutory instruments become white elephants!

Before the UNWTO, the statutory instruments really assisted the industry a lot and enabled companies to spruce up or do facelifts to a point where Zimbabwe did not disappoint when the hosting of the mega meeting eventually came.

As a starting point, the proposed US$200 million Tourism Revolving Fund becomes handy. Since late last year, Minister Mzembi has been pushing for the fund to be established but it seems funds are somehow eluding him, especially with the banks looking elsewhere. He even got Cabinet backing on the issue.

The combination of the revolving fund and the statutory instruments is critical as it will create opportunities for companies to expand their operations and increase tourist arrivals in the country.

Government, I am told, has started engaging financial instruments despite their negative attitude towards their tourism and hospitality industry.

The initiative to engage financial institutions by the Government on the revolving fund for the tourism sector comes at a time when companies in the sector have been expressing concern over failure to access credit facilities to improve their operations.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president Tamuka Mucheka says the fund is needed for infrastructure development in hotels and lodges, among other areas to ensure that they maintain world class standards in both appearance and service delivery. Conditions of the fund, he argues, should be flexible to allow both bigger and smaller operators to access it.

It is, therefore, critical that the funds be affordable and that the tenure is extended so that the operators can have more time for repayment. Another critical area for funding the sector is staff development to replace the skilled manpower that left the country for greener pastures during the hyper inflationary period.

The shortage of capital has forced stakeholders in the tourism sector to shelve some of the key investment projects and the introduction of the revolving fund will be critical in the revival, growth and completion of such projects.

This is the time when banks should pool resources together and assist the industry. Together, we can walk the road to prosperity.

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